JP2006206193A - Boxing system of agricultural product - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide the boxing system of an agricultural product capable of boxing the agricultural product in accordance with the tray pack of an arrangement pattern designated for the boxing. <P>SOLUTION: When a discharge/boxing controlling section 1521 outputs a boxing delivery command signal to a tray delivery controlling device 18, a receptacle loaded with a plurality of agricultural products constituting one packaging unit is transferred to a boxing standby position, and a tray pack designation signal for designating the tray pack used to box the agricultural product of the one packaging unit is also outputted to a boxing device. A work robot sucks and holds the agricultural products kept standby in a row in the boxing standby position in the state wherein a particular type of the tray pack selected from a plurality of types of the tray pack is loaded in a packaging box located on the boxing position, and work of loading in accordance with the rows of the tray packs is executed by the number of the rows of the tray packs. In this work, the number of the agricultural products to be sucked and held by the robot at a time can be selected to control the gap between the agricultural products sucked and held for boxing. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to an agricultural product packaging system for packaging agricultural products such as sorted fruits and vegetables in a packaging box in accordance with the packaging state of a tray pack.

  Traditionally, the agricultural products such as fruits, fruits and vegetables are placed on the saucer one by one and transferred on the conveyor to measure the class elements such as the weight, size and shape of the fruits, and the grades such as color, scratches and sugar content. There is known a sorting and packaging device that collects and packs agricultural products by equality / class using a device that performs sorting / determination by detecting elements and sorts agricultural products based on the information of these equality / classes. (Patent Document 1).

  The process for processing such sorting / judgment, sorting, and boxed packaging is a process of placing the produce on a conveyor and passing it through a measurement stage in order to take out information for sorting / judgment for each produce, A process for judging the classification of agricultural products based on the detected information, a sorting process for grouping agricultural products by classification based on the information of the judgment results, and agricultural products organized by classification classification are sent to a dedicated packaging stage for packaging It is comprised by the process of box-packaging with an apparatus.

  By the way, in such a system, for example, the typical “size” as the class element is 6 classes of 3L, 2L, L, M, S, and 2S, and the class elements are special (A), excellent (AP), and excellent. If sorting classification agricultural products consisting of 5 grades (B), good (BP), and average (C) are sorted and sorted, the number of combinations (number of sorting sections) is 30. Therefore, if the equipment for this purpose is simply mechanized and automated, there will be a large number of boxing devices installed on the packaging stages for each sorting section, making it extremely economically unreasonable as a device for sorting and packaging agricultural products. .

  As a method for solving such a problem, there is a proposal that a sorting storage section for all sorting sections is provided and linked to the boxing device, and the sorting section to which agricultural products are frequently fed is given priority and sent to the boxing device (patent) Reference 2).

  However, even if priority is given to the sorting of agricultural products that are sent in frequently (that is, the distribution amount is large) as in this method, a considerable number of residences are stored in the reservoirs of each of the various distribution divisions that have a large distribution amount. Therefore, it is necessary to secure a margin for the storage, and the area of the storage portion becomes large.

  Moreover, since the distribution of agricultural products varies from one consignment to another, the number of sorting sections that require a considerable number of stays is increased in order to be able to cope with the distribution of various consignments, and the area of the storage area is increasing. Becomes larger.

  In addition, as described above, in view of the fact that the capacity of the packing device is relatively low compared to the processing capacity of other processes, the amount of retention in the storage section of the fixed sorting section increases. It is conceivable to provide sorting and packaging apparatuses including the apparatus in a plurality of series. That is, since the number of agricultural products processed per line is reduced, the processing speed is improved, and the amount of residence in the storage part is reduced.

However, the equipment cost required for each agricultural product for installing a plurality of sorting and packaging apparatuses increases, which is an economic burden, and it is advantageous in terms of the installation area because the apparatuses are provided in a plurality of series. Not.
JP-A-5-50041 Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 4-76847

  As described above, conventional sorting and packaging equipment minimizes the required installation area of the equipment in the fruit selection area, fully demonstrates the capabilities of various equipment used in each process, thereby improving operational efficiency and ultimately In particular, it was not easy to realize efficient sorting and packaging of agricultural products with little capital investment.

  Moreover, in the sorting and packaging process of agricultural products, especially fruits, generally, packs (tray packs) are used to prevent the fruits from coming into contact with each other and being damaged by vibration during the transportation from the fruit selection field to the market or the like. In many cases, cushioning material is laid in the box. And, for the purpose of packing as many fruits as possible in a common packaging box, when the size of the fruits is different, the number of packing is, for example, 16, 18, 20, Generally, changing to 22, 24, 26, etc. is performed, but the shape of the tray pack laid in the box also differs accordingly.

  In this case, in order to enable boxing and packaging of all classes (six types) of fruits with one boxing device, a packaging box in which six types of tray packs having different shapes are inserted in advance is prepared in another place. It is necessary to select each type of tray pack each time and place it in the box at the location of the boxing device, and automating this will complicate the structure of the device. Become.

  The present invention has been made to solve the various problems in the conventional sorting and packaging apparatus as described above, and the type of tray pack used in one boxing apparatus cannot cope with all classes of agricultural products. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a packaging system for agricultural products that can cover a plurality of classes and can package agricultural products in accordance with a tray pack having an arrangement pattern designated for packaging.

  According to a first configuration of an agricultural product packaging system that realizes the object of the present invention, an agricultural product that forms one packaging unit to be packaged when a packaging delivery instruction signal is input is provided. A sorting unit for sending a plurality of trays toward the packaging standby position, and when a packaging instruction signal is input, a specific tray specified from a plurality of types of tray packs with different packaging modes In a state where the pack is loaded in the packaging box placed at the boxing position, a plurality of agricultural products waiting in a row are sucked and held at the boxing standby position and transferred in accordance with the row mode of the tray pack. A packaging device having a working robot for performing the loading work for the number of rows of the tray pack, and the output of the packaging delivery instruction signal each time a plurality of trays forming one packaging unit are delivered from the sorting unit. Control to output a packaging instruction signal to the packaging device The boxing device selects the number of produce that the work robot absorbs and holds at a time at the boxing standby position according to the boxing mode in response to the input of the boxing instruction signal. The interval between the plurality of agricultural products sucked and held when the tray pack is boxed is adjusted.

  According to a second configuration of an agricultural product packaging system that realizes the object of the present invention, as described in claim 2, in the first configuration described above, the packaging device includes a tray pack in the packaging mode. In accordance with a tray pack designation signal for designating, the specified tray pack is sucked and held and loaded into a packaging box placed at a packing position.

  According to the present invention, even if a tray pack to be used is changed by the input of a tray pack designation signal due to an equal class of a plurality of agricultural products constituting one packaging unit, the packaging standby position is set in accordance with the specified tray pack. Since the agricultural products that are waiting are adsorbed and held and boxed for each row in accordance with the array pattern of the tray pack, the boxing operation can be performed quickly corresponding to a plurality of array patterns.

  Thus, even if the packaging mode of the agricultural product sent to the packaging standby position is changed, it is possible to quickly cope with the packaging mode of the agricultural product.

  That is, even if the packaging mode is changed from 6 × 4 rows to 5 × 4 rows in accordance with the change of the size of the agricultural products to be sent from the size L to the size M, Operation change (selection of number, adjustment of interval, etc.) can be performed very easily, and the packaging device can be used in common for any packaging mode.

  Furthermore, since it can respond to various boxing modes, it is possible to freely select a combination of sorting sections to be discharged to the sorting section.

  Moreover, since one boxing apparatus can respond to a plurality of boxing modes, the operation efficiency can be improved, and the required number of expensive boxing apparatuses can be reduced.

  In addition, the configuration of the packaging device and its peripheral devices can be simplified.

  In addition, since the work robot is taken out of the tray pack, the work robot is made to perform a series of operations for taking out the tray pack and inserting it into the packaging box before the boxing operation of the agricultural products. Thus, the work from taking out the tray pack to the end of boxing of the agricultural products can be executed by one work robot.

  Hereinafter, the present invention will be described based on embodiments shown in the drawings.

Embodiment 1
FIG. 1 is a plan view showing a part of a fruit selection field (measurement for sorting and sorting agricultural products to a boxing) equipped with the agricultural product sorting and packaging apparatus equipped with the packaging system of the present invention. This sorting and packaging apparatus is roughly divided to supply agricultural products and classifying units, and discharges agricultural products that have been determined to classify sorting to a branch boxing line (storage unit) 2 that is a tray storage unit for each sorting category. Three sorting processing units, a boxing and packaging unit that boxes a group (number of packaging units) of agricultural products sent from the branch boxing line 2 of each sorted division to the boxing standby position of the packaging stage, and Based on sorting / judgment information and other information, sorting trays (hereinafter referred to as “free trays”) to each branch boxing line 2 is controlled and sent from the branch boxing line 2 to the packaging stage. And control means for controlling To have.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the above-described three work processing units will be described.

  The above-mentioned agricultural product supply / equal class selection unit is shown in detail in FIG. 2, while the free tray 4 returned by the return conveyor 51 is transferred on the transfer conveyor 52, the agricultural products on the supply conveyor 57 are transferred to the worker. 50 is placed on the free tray 4 and grades (for example, grades A, AP, B, BP, C, etc.) are visually discriminated to determine the position of the free tray 4 at the center, right middle, and right end of the conveyor 52. , Move it to the left middle and left end, and show its grade by tracking.

  In addition, the conveyance conveyor 52 of this example is a conveyor with a crosspiece in which crosspieces 521 are provided at regular intervals in the conveyance direction, and the crosspiece 521 is formed by a pitching screw 511 having a spiral groove provided at the end portion of the return conveyor 51. One free tray 4 is inserted for each square separated by.

  Reference numeral 53 denotes a free tray position tracking detection device (camera or the like), which detects the grade of the agricultural product graded by tracking. After detecting the tracking, the free tray 4 is aligned in a line by the taper rail 522 and passed through the imaging device 54. The imaging device 54 images the appearance of agricultural products using a color camera, a sensor camera, or the like, and examines the size of each agricultural product by an appropriate calculation method to classify the agricultural products (for example, 2L, L1, L2, M, S, 2S). 6), etc.). Reference numeral 55 denotes a bar code reader for reading different identification marks displayed on the free tray 4, for example, bar code numbers. Information for specifying the grade, class and free tray 4 of these agricultural products is sent to a computer / control device 15 (see FIG. 1) configured by a computer, and the agricultural products on the specific free tray 4 are of the same class. It is determined which sort category it belongs to, and it is recorded in the address memory (recording device) 1513 as sort category information (barcode No + sort category) (see FIG. 14). This sorting information is used as information for discharging the free tray 4 from the sorting conveyor 1 to the storage conveyor 202.

  On the terminal side of the conveyor 52 in the supply / equal class sorting unit of this example, the junction mechanism 56 is used to transfer and join the free tray 4 from the two conveyors 52 to one sorting conveyor 1 that transfers at high speed. It has become.

  That is, the two conveyors 52 are provided in parallel so as to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, and the both bars 521 are rotated by a 1/2 pitch.

  Then, the sorting conveyor 1 arranged in the middle of the both conveyors 52 and transported at approximately twice the speed is joined by the inclined rails 562 and 562 via the connecting conveyors 561 and 561 having the crosspieces 5611, respectively. Like to do. The transfer conveyor 561 has a large speed difference between the transfer conveyor 52 and the sorting conveyor 1 so that the transfer is performed smoothly. The transfer conveyor 561 is configured with a cross, and the transfer speed is different from that of the transfer conveyor 52. An intermediate speed of the conveyor 1 is set.

  The free tray 4 on which the agricultural products for which the class classification is determined as described above is sent to the sorting section by the sorting conveyor 1.

  Next, the sorting unit of the sorting and packaging apparatus of this example will be described. The sorting and packaging apparatus of this example is provided with the above-described supply / equal class sorting units in two series, and these two series of supply / equal class sorting units. Sorting conveyors 1 (two strips) for transporting the free tray 4 fed from the side are arranged in parallel in a vertically separated and stacked manner, and a number of branches in the lateral direction correspond to the sorting conveyors 1 on the top and bottom strips. A boxing line 2 is connected, and this branch boxing line 2 is constituted by a storage conveyor 202 (see FIG. 3).

  That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the free tray 4 on which the agricultural products whose sorting classification has been determined by the supply / equal class sorting unit is transported by the upper and lower sorting conveyors 1 and 1 as shown in FIG. 3, as shown in FIG. 4, it is discharged to a storage conveyor 202 that is branched and connected in the horizontal direction to form a tray storage section.

  In this example, the discharge operation of the free tray 4 by the discharge device (the tray discharge means) 201 is performed as follows. That is, the bar code reader 5 (see FIG. 1) arranged on the upstream side of the sorting conveyor 1 reads the sign (bar code No.) of the free tray 4 and sends this information to the calculation / control device 15. The arithmetic / control unit 15 reads out the sorting classification information (barcode No + sorting classification) recorded in the address memory 1513 in a paired relationship with this indicator, and designates the corresponding sorting classification from the arrangement position of the barcode reader 5. The transfer distance (or time) to the storage conveyor 202 is calculated from the amount of rotation of a pulse motor or the like that rotates the sorting conveyor 1, and the information is sent to the discharge control device 16 as a discharge destination instruction signal. (See FIGS. 1 and 14).

  The discharge control device 16 operates the discharge device 201 when the free tray 4 passes through the position of the corresponding discharge device 201. The designation of the sorting category for the storage conveyor, the release of the designation, and the control of discharging the free tray by the discharge destination instruction signal will be described later.

  In the storage conveyor 202 in the present example, a total of 8 upper and lower 4 strips form a group (group), and the packaging standby position 203 of one packaging stage (see FIG. 4). In the example shown in the drawing, eight of the branched packaging lines 2 made up of a set of 8 storage conveyor groups are linked to each packaging standby position 203 of one packaging stage. It is configured.

  In addition, the three branch boxing lines 21 on the right side in FIG. 1 indicate lines for hand-packing work by an operator. For example, since a branching boxing line having a boxing standby position for hand-packing operations distributes only a very small number of agricultural products, even if the storage conveyor 202 for this sorting section is allocated and the boxing packaging is automated, the facility packaging rather When it is disadvantageous from the economical point of view, it is preferably used when it is discharged to a common line and boxed by an operator timely. In addition, agricultural products that cannot be shipped as non-standard products do not need to be packaged, so they may be discharged to a non-boxed line and processed together. The rightmost branch line 22 in FIG. 1 shows this line. Yes.

  Hereinafter, the configuration of the set of branch boxing lines 2 will be described in detail mainly with reference to FIGS.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the branch boxing line 2 constituting the sorting unit includes upper and lower discharge devices 201 and 201 for discharging the free tray 4 from the upper and lower sorting conveyors 1, and upper and lower for storing the discharged free tray 4. Storage trays 202 and 202, and a tray delivery device (tray delivery means) 204 for delivering the free tray 4 from the upper and lower storage conveyors 202 to the boxing standby position 203.

  The discharge device 201 can be configured using, for example, a discharge device disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 6-278848, and is provided independently on each of the upper and lower sorting conveyors 1 and 1.

  In this example, the single discharge device 201 is configured to have a function of distributing the free tray 4 to the storage conveyor 202 (2021, 2022 in FIG. 4) of two lanes (two strips). 4 is rotated in the direction of the arrow in FIG. 4 to attract and turn the free tray 4 to eject the free tray 4 from the sorting conveyor 1. In order to excite the electromagnetic adsorption unit 2012 of the rotary table 2011, and as described above, the electromagnetic adsorption unit 2012 is fixedly provided at two predetermined positions to distribute the free tray 4 to the two-lane storage conveyors 2021 and 2022. The release means 2014, 2015 is configured to release the excitation and discharge.

  With such a configuration, for example, in the above-mentioned example in which the classification classification of the equal class is determined, the agricultural product of the size class L1 and the classification A is the storage in which the classification classification (L1, A) is designated. When passing through the position of the discharge device 201 corresponding to the conveyor 202, the excitation means 2013 is excited by the discharge destination instruction signal from the discharge control device 16, so that the free tray 4 on which the corresponding agricultural product is placed is electromagnetic It is adsorbed by a rotary table 2011 having an adsorbing part 2012, and is turned laterally from the sorting conveyor 1 according to the rotation of the rotary table 2011, and is discharged to, for example, a storage conveyor 2021. The storage conveyor 202 is configured by a belt conveyor or a roller conveyor.

  The above-described operation of the discharge device 201 is driven and controlled by a discharge control device 16 with a built-in local MPU (microprocessor unit) programmed in advance with a predetermined operation procedure.

  Note that the discharge device 201 and the storage conveyor 202 are provided independently for the upper and lower sorting conveyors 1, 1. Therefore, in the configuration of this example, the storage conveyor 202 is vertically arranged in each of the four branch boxing lines 2. Two strips and two discharge devices 201 are arranged on the top and bottom.

  Next, the linkage control between the packaging stage for packaging and the storage conveyor 202 and the tray delivery device 204 for tray delivery control will be described.

  A stopper end 2046 serving as a storage conveyor gate that forms a part of the tray delivery device 204 and stops the free tray 4 at the conveyance end position of each storage conveyor 202 of the present example, and a boxing standby position from the storage conveyor 202 A swing-switching type delivery conveyor 2041 for feeding agricultural products to 203 is arranged.

  The stopper mechanism 2046 is composed of a retractable air cylinder mechanism, and normally operates to stop the conveyance of the free tray 4.

  On the other hand, when the accumulation status monitoring sensor 2024 provided in the vicinity of the storage conveyor 202 detects that the number of free trays has been accumulated up to a predetermined number of one unit of packaging, the accumulation information is sent to the calculation / control device 15. The feeding and tray delivery control device 18 (see FIG. 14) is operated, and the free tray 4 on the storage conveyor 202 in which the accumulation is detected is switched to a linked state that allows transportation to a boxing lane 2031 described later, The free tray 4 is sent to the boxing standby position 203 and boxing is performed by the operation of the boxing device 205 by the boxing control device 17 (see FIGS. 14 and 16).

  The above-described packaging standby position 203 is the number of packaging units sent from any lane of a plurality of upper and lower two-stage storage conveyors 202 included in one branch packaging line 2 (in this example, 8 items). The free tray 4 is provided as a boxing lane 2031 in which the free trays 4 are arranged in a line for boxing and wait.

In addition, the switchable tray delivery device 204 for delivering agricultural products has the following configurations 1) to 4) in order to send the free tray 4 from one of the storage conveyors 202 to the boxing lane 2031.
1) Four feed conveyors 2041 provided in a vertically swinging manner,
2) an air cylinder device 2042 for each lane for swinging these delivery conveyors 2041;
3) a transverse relay conveyor 2043 extending in a direction perpendicular to the free tray 4 sent from the four-line storage conveyor 202 via the delivery conveyor 2041 to the boxing lane 2031;
4) A longitudinal relay conveyor 2044 that is further connected to the relay conveyor 2043 at a right angle and is connected to the start end of the boxing lane 2031.

  Each air cylinder device 2042 has the above-mentioned stopper mechanism 2046 switched to a state that allows conveyance in order to send out a group of free trays 4 from either the top or bottom of the storage conveyor 202 that is paired up and down. The driving device (not shown) of the air cylinder device 2042 is actuated by a sending instruction signal from the arithmetic / control device 15 to swing the sending conveyor 2041 up and down around the shaft 2045 on the lateral relay conveyor 2043 side. The corresponding storage conveyor 202 and the boxing lane 2031 are switched to have a continuous relationship via the relay conveyors 2043 and 2044.

  FIG. 4 shows a state in which the delivery conveyor 2041 is sent out in a horizontal posture when 24 free trays 4 of the number of boxed packaging units are accumulated on the storage conveyor 2021 at the upper right end of the figure, FIG. 3 shows a state in which the free tray 4 of the number of boxed packaging units is sent out from the lower storage conveyor 202 in an inclined posture in which the delivery conveyor 2041 of FIG.

  The operation of the tray delivery device 204 described above is driven and controlled by a tray delivery control device 18 with a built-in local MPU programmed in advance with a predetermined operation procedure.

  Next, a packaging stage having a working robot as the boxing device 205 and peripheral devices related thereto will be described.

  As described above, the free tray 4 sent from the predetermined storage conveyor 202 by the tray delivery device 204 is sent onto the boxing lane 2031 and is a stopper as an empty tray discharge gate provided at the tip of the boxing lane 2031. It is stopped by the mechanism 2034 to enter a boxing standby state.

  This stopper mechanism 2034 can be configured in the same manner as the stopper mechanism 2046, and is based on an empty tray discharge instruction signal from the boxing control device 17 at the end of picking up agricultural products (or at the time when there is no hindrance to transport after picking up). After switching to a state in which the conveyance is permitted, the empty free tray 4 is sent to the return conveyor 51, and then the subsequent free tray 4 is returned to a state of being stopped again. The end of the return conveyor 51 is connected to the transport conveyor 52 shown in FIGS.

  The boxing device 205 is configured as a working robot having a vertical articulated arm mechanism (hereinafter referred to as “working robot 205”), and is queued in line in the boxing lane 2031 at the boxing standby position 203. It operates to pick up agricultural products P from above a predetermined number of free trays 4 and sequentially pack them one by one in cardboard boxes 6 into which tray packs (any of 1401 to 1404) are inserted.

  In addition, the boxing device of this example packs 5 × 4 rows (20 in total) when, for example, agricultural products of size L1 are packed, but 6 when packing agricultural products of size M. Since the number of pieces × 4 rows (24 in total) is packed, the suction cup is provided so that it can be retreated to a retreat position that is not involved in picking up so that it can cope with different picking numbers. It has a typical configuration. Some of these boxed arrangement patterns are shown in FIG.

  The details of the working robot 205 of this example will be described. As shown in FIGS. 3, 5, and 6, a root link mechanism 2052 that performs parallelogram link motion is extended from the main body 2051, and this root link mechanism 2052. A tip link mechanism 2053 that performs a parallelogram link motion is connected to the tip of the tip link mechanism 2053 via a hinge that allows rotation about a horizontal axis, and a suction cup holder 2054 is connected to the tip of the tip link mechanism 2053 via a bracket 2055. With the arm mechanism configured by these link mechanisms, the bracket 2055 can move up and down and back and forth while always maintaining a horizontal posture.

  As shown in detail in FIGS. 5 and 6, the bracket 2055 slides so that a pair of guides 20552 provided on the bracket bottom plate 20551 and a rail 20541 provided on the upper surface of the suction cup holder 2054 can move in the horizontal direction. Thus, the suction cup holder 2054 is suspended so as to be movable in the Y-Y direction of FIG. 5 and the piston rod 20543 of the air cylinder device 20542 assembled to the upper surface of the suction cup holder 2054 is attached to the bracket bottom plate 20551. By being connected, the positions of the suction cup holder 2054 and the bracket 2055 in the YY direction can be determined.

  The suction cup holder 2054 has, in this example, one fixed cup suspension 2056 at the end fixed so as not to move in the YY direction as shown in FIG. The rail 20545 provided on the lower surface of the holder 2054 is provided so as to suspend a combination of six moving cup suspensions 2057 that are slidably moved in the Y-Y direction. Each of the cup suspensions has air cylinder devices 20561 and 20571 having piston rods 20562 and 20572 below which are driven vertically, and has suction cups 20563 and 20573 at the lower ends of the piston rods 20562 and 20572, respectively. In addition, this adsorption cup can use the known thing which has a flexible bellows for improving the adhesiveness with the agricultural product to pick up.

  Further, the seven cup suspensions described above are provided with a pantograph mechanism 20547 having a servo motor 20546 as a driving means as a distance changing means, and the moving cup suspensions sequentially adjacent to each other based on the fixed cup suspension 2056. The interval 2057 can be changed.

  The details of the interval changing means are shown in FIG. 7, and the horizontal position of the fixed cup suspension 2056 and the movable cup suspension 2057 located farthest from the fixed cup suspension 2056 are moved by the servo motor 20546. The interval change and equalization are achieved by equalizing the adjacent intervals of the remaining cup suspensions between the pair of cup suspensions by the pantograph mechanism 20547.

  Furthermore, the suction cups 20563 and 20573 are connected to the blower 7 via a vent pipe 2058 in this example. The connection relationship between the suction cup and the blower is shown in the system diagram of FIG. 8. Each suction cup 20563, 20573 is connected to the blower 7 through the switching valve 8, 9 and the vent pipe 2058 on the way. That is, the switching valve 8 is interposed in the middle of the vent pipe connected to the suction port of the blower 7, and air is sucked into the blower 7 through the vent pipe at the time of opening, so that the suction cup 20563, The inside of 20573 becomes a negative pressure and sucks and adsorbs agricultural products. In other cases, the agricultural product is closed and the negative pressure in the suction cup is released.

  Further, the switching valve 9 is interposed in the middle of the vent pipe connected to the discharge port of the blower 7, and when the circuit is opened, the discharge air (positive pressure) of the blower 7 is supplied to the suction cups 20563 and 20573 for adsorption. The agricultural product P is removed, and in other cases it is closed to stop the positive pressure supply.

  In addition, 10 is a relief valve, and adjusts the pressure of the positive pressure (discharge air) supplied from the blower 7 so as to moderately remove from the suction cup so as not to damage the agricultural product P. 11 is an electromagnetic valve for supplying air to the air cylinder devices 20561 and 20571 of the cup suspension through the vent pipe 20548.

  The operation of the boxing device described above is driven and controlled by the boxing control device 17 with a built-in local MPU programmed in advance with a predetermined operation procedure.

  Next, peripheral devices and the like provided on the packaging stage will be described.

  Reference numeral 12 denotes a supply / discharge device for the cardboard box 6. The empty box 6 conveyed by the empty box transfer conveyor 1201 is pushed into the empty box lowering device 1203 by the pusher 1202 at a predetermined timing, and the pushed empty box 6 is lowered. After that, it is sent to the boxing position 1204 along the arrows shown in FIGS. The corrugated cardboard box 6 in which the packaging of the agricultural products P has been completed is lowered from the packaging position 1204 to the discharge conveyor 1205 by an elevator (not shown), and is transported to a predetermined product accumulation place by the product transport conveyor 1206.

  Reference numeral 13 denotes a tray lifting prevention device provided at the boxing standby position 203, and the details of one example are shown in FIG. That is, in the boxing lane 2031 formed by the belt conveyor 20311 and the guide walls 20312 on both sides, a predetermined number of free trays 4 that are stopped by the stopper mechanism 2034 in the boxing standby state are part of the upper surface. The hook-type tray lifting prevention device 13 is extended inward from the guide walls 20312 on both sides so that the guide walls 20312 can be engaged with each other.

  The tray lifting prevention device 13 provided in this way can reliably prevent the free tray 4 from being lifted together when the agricultural product P is picked up by the suction cups 20563 and 20573 and picked up.

  Reference numeral 14 denotes a tray pack supply device. In the processing of the boxed packaging of this example, the thin plastic tray packs 1401 to 1404 in which the concave portions on which the agricultural products P are placed one by one are formed in a matrix shape or a staggered shape are inserted into the cardboard box 6 and used. The work robot 205, which is the above-mentioned means for picking up agricultural products, is also used as means for automatically inserting the tray pack into the cardboard box.

  As shown in FIGS. 3 and 4, the tray pack supply device 14 has four types of tray packs 1401 to 1401 in a space surrounded by the above-described packing lane 2031, the horizontal relay conveyor 2043, and the vertical relay conveyor 2044. It is composed of a rotation cradle 1405 for stacking and mounting 1404, a support frame 1406 for supporting the stacked stack tray pack, and a rotator 1407 for intermittently rotating the rotation cradle 1405 by 90 °. In response to a command from the boxing control device 17, a rotator 1407 is used between the state shown in FIG. 4 and the state rotated in the direction of the arrow so that the stack of tray packs to be positioned is positioned on the boxing lane 2031 side. It is designed to rotate.

  By doing in this way, the work robot 205 can select and take out the tray packs that match the different boxed states in the sorting sections.

  Reference numeral 1410 denotes a tray pack replenishment operation path provided above the box branching line 2 so as to be orthogonal thereto as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 (see FIG. 3). In addition, in the present example, the above-described rotation operation of taking out a predetermined pack (any one of 1401 to 1404) of the tray pack supply device 14 to the take-out position is performed by the tray delivery device 204 described above from any one of the storage conveyors 202. When the tray is sent out, it is performed by outputting a command signal from the boxing control device 17 in synchronization with a signal for operating the stopper mechanism 2046.

  As described above, as a group of the free trays 4 carrying the agricultural products for one box are sent to the boxing standby position 203, the boxing operation is sequentially performed in a row by the articulated work robot 205. Done.

  As an example of this work, a boxing device (work robot) 205 is first loaded on an empty cardboard box 6 sent to the boxing position 1204 by the cardboard box supply / discharge device 12. The arm mechanism is operated by a driving means (not shown) at the position / posture indicated by the solid line in FIG. 3 so that the tray pack 1401 for balls (pieces) is picked up by the suction cup. At this time, the rotator 1407 of the tray pack supply device 14 rotates so that the tray pack 1401 for 24 balls (pieces) is positioned in a state close to the packaging lane 2031 (state shown in FIG. 4).

  Further, as shown in FIG. 10, in order to ensure the pickup of the tray pack 1401, the interval between the cup suspensions 2056 and 2057 is narrowed, and the tray pack 1401 is picked up by the six cup suspensions 2056 and 2057. The picked-up tray pack 1401 is inserted into the cardboard box 6 at the packing position 1204 by moving the arm mechanism of the work robot 205 to the position / posture indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG.

  Next, the cardboard box 6 in which the tray pack (the tray pack 1401 for the size M in the above state) is inserted in the boxing position 1204 waits, and the free tray 4 containing the agricultural products P stops in the boxing lane 2031. In this state, the boxing operation of the agricultural product by the work robot 205 for transferring the agricultural product P from the free tray 4 to the box is started.

  At this time, since the work robot 205 of this example has a total of seven cup suspensions (one fixed cup suspension 2056 and six movable cup suspensions 2057), the agricultural product P to be lifted and picked up. Since there are six, there is an extra cup suspension for one. Therefore, the suction cup 20573 of the air cylinder device 20571 of the moving cup suspension 2057 farthest from the fixed cup suspension 2056 is retreated upward from the position where it operates for normal agricultural product transfer by intake air from the vent pipe 20548. In such a case, it is impossible to participate in operations such as picking up and transferring the agricultural product P.

  In addition, the positions and intervals at which the cup suspensions 2056 and 2057 are suitable for adsorbing and lifting the agricultural products P on the six free trays 4 stopped in the boxing lane 2031 are the positions of the air cylinder device 20542. Actuation and activation of the pantograph mechanism 20547 are provided.

  The arm mechanism having six cup suspensions controlled in this way is moved to the position / posture shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 3, and the suction cups 20563 and 20573 absorb one row (six) of agricultural products P. Take up. The free tray 4 is prevented from being lifted together at the time of picking up by the tray lifting prevention device 13 described above.

  The work robot 205 that sucks and lifts the picked up agricultural products P moves the fixed cup suspension 2056 and the movable cup suspension 2057 to the boxing position by controlling the posture of the arm mechanism, and in the middle of this movement Then, the operation of the pantograph mechanism 20547 changes the adjacent interval between the row of cup suspensions 2056, 2057 to a state suitable for boxing. This changed state is shown in FIG.

  The empty free tray 4 from which the agricultural products P are picked up is sent out to the return conveyor 51 with the stopper mechanism 2034 retracted. Then, the free tray 4 on which the subsequent agricultural product P is placed is transferred to the boxing lane 2031 and is stopped by the returned stopper mechanism 2034 and waits for the next boxing. And the boxing operation | work of the agricultural products P of the 2nd row is performed by the work robot 205 which extended the adjacent space | interval of the cup suspension in the state of FIG.

  In the present example, the above operation is continuously performed for four rows as shown in FIG. 12, and thus the boxing operation for one box is completed, and the box 6 after the operation is completed is discharged from the discharge conveyor 1205 to the product sorting conveyor. The product is conveyed to a predetermined product accumulation location via 1206.

  On the other hand, the boxing operation is performed on the next box 6.

  That is, supply of the empty box 6 to the boxing position 1204, feeding a predetermined number of free trays 4 on which the agricultural products P are loaded from any one of the storage conveyors 202 to the boxing lane 2031, predetermined tray packs (1401 to 1404) ) Is inserted into the box 6, and a series of operations including picking up and packing the agricultural products one by one is performed.

  At this time, when the boxing is performed on the agricultural product of size L, the second cup from the left side of FIG. 5 is used because the tray pack 1043 is used for boxing in an array pattern of 5 × 4 rows. The suspended body 2057 also needs to be retracted in the same retracted state as the leftmost cup suspended body 2057, and the agricultural product stuffing state is in a staggered state and the degree of change in the adjacent spacing of the cup suspended body is different. According to the apparatus, these change controls can also retract the second cup suspension 2057 from the left side only by operating the air cylinder device 20571, and also change the arrangement pattern for each row of the air cylinder device 20542. The suction cup holder 2054 is moved in the YY direction in FIG. 4 and the operation of the pantograph mechanism 20547 is adjusted. Door can be.

  The present example described above is for the case of 20 balls (pieces) and 24 balls (pieces), but the boxing arrangement pattern is not limited to these. . Furthermore, the type of the packing arrangement pattern that one work robot 205 is responsible for may be one or more than the drawing, for example, four types (18 balls, 20 balls, 24 balls, 28 balls). In other words, the tray pack supply device 14 can be configured to stack four types of tray packs 1401 to 1404. Further, for example, as shown in FIG. 13, the arrangement pattern can be various numbers of boxes and arrangement patterns, and any of these arrangement patterns shown in FIG. The work robots 205 having seven cup suspensions in a row can be used in common.

  As an example of the box packaging operation of agricultural products by the sorting and packaging apparatus configured as described above, a plurality of sorting sections are allocated to each branch boxing line 2 composed of a group of a plurality of storage conveyors 202 (for sorting sections having a large distribution). Are assigned to a plurality of branch boxing lines 2), and regarding the designation of the sorting category for each storage conveyor 202, the designation is canceled every time the accumulated agricultural products are sent to the packaging stage, and the sorting conveyor 1 is discharged. FIG. 14 showing the flow of each signal such as a control signal in the case where a new re-designation (new designation) is performed when deciding the destination, and a flowchart showing the work procedure for determining the classification of agricultural products in the example Referring to FIG. 15 shown in FIG. 15 and FIG. 16 showing the operation procedure from the designation of the sorting classification to the storage conveyor 202 to the boxing, with reference to FIG. Explain.

  In the agricultural product supply / equal class selection unit, as shown in FIG. 15, while the agricultural products are placed on the free tray 4 and transported by the transport conveyor 52, the grade element measurement by tracking detection of the tracking detection device 53 described above (step 101). : In the figure, the step is indicated by S. In the following, the class element measurement by the imaging device 54 (step 102) and the identification mark (barcode No) detection by the barcode reader 55 (step 103) are performed. The broken free trays 4 are joined together by the joining mechanism 56 from the two transport conveyors 52 arranged side by side and transferred to the sorting conveyor 1. The measured equality / class elements are sent to the arithmetic device 151 of the arithmetic / control device 15, and the measurement data processing arithmetic unit 1511 performs predetermined image processing on color, scratches, size, appearance, etc. After that, the classification classification of agricultural products is determined in the equal class determination unit 1512 (step 104). Information on individual agricultural products as determination results is linked to identification information (barcode No.) of the free tray 4 and recorded in the address memory 1513 of the arithmetic device 151 (step 105).

  It should be noted that the reference data used when determining the classification category in the equal class determining unit 1512 can be set in advance as an equal / class set value 1514 by an external input device 153 such as a keyboard, and this set value can be set as necessary. Can be changed.

  FIG. 14 showing each processing unit of the above work procedure in blocks is actually a microprocessor unit (MPU) incorporating information detection means such as sensors and cameras, and a program for processing electrical signals detected by these means. ) Configured to process with built-in computer.

  Next, sorting control will be described.

  The free tray 4 on which the agricultural products P whose sorting classification has been determined by the above equal / class sorting is transported by the upper and lower two-stage sorting conveyors 1 is freed by the barcode reader 5 in step 201 in FIG. The bar code No. of the tray 4 is read, and the record reading unit 1515 reads out the sorting classification information of the agricultural products recorded by linking with the free tray corresponding to the bar code No. from the address memory 1513 (step 202). Is sent to the discharge / boxing control unit 1521 of the sorting boxing control device 152.

  Based on the read sorting section information, the discharge / boxing control unit 1521 checks in step 204 whether the storage conveyor 202 for the sorting section is designated.

  If a storage conveyor for this sorting category has already been specified, a discharge destination instruction is given to the discharge apparatus 201 corresponding to the corresponding specified storage conveyor 202 (for example, the third conveyor of group 2) via the discharge control device 16. A signal is commanded, and the free tray 4 is discharged and accumulated when the free tray 4 carrying the agricultural products of the sorting section is transferred (step 205).

  Then, in step 206, it is checked whether or not the accumulated free tray 4 has reached the preset number of accumulations. If the number of accumulations has not been reached, the agricultural products of the same sorting category are subsequently placed. Each time the free tray 4 is transported, it is discharged to the designated storage conveyor 202.

  At this time, in this example, the storage conveyor 202 corresponding to the predetermined sorting section is located at the position where the discharge destination matrix of the storage conveyor 202 corresponding to all the sorting sections specified at that time is discharged. It is ensured by storing in the storage unit 1523 (see FIG. 14).

  Note that the data in the discharge destination storage unit 1523 is updated every time the classification classification for the storage conveyor is designated and the designation is canceled. In addition, since the number of accumulations varies depending on the classification category, in this example, the accumulation number of each classification category is input by the external input device 153, set in the unit accumulation number setting unit 1525, and read out in step 203.

  On the other hand, in step 204, if the storage conveyor 202 for accumulating the agricultural products of the sorting category corresponding to the sorting category information read from the address memory 1513 is not specified, the control specifies the sorting category for the storage conveyor. Move to the subroutine for.

  That is, when the storage conveyor to be accumulated is not designated, the process proceeds to step 301 to search for a group to which a sorting category that can accumulate the agricultural products of the sorting category is searched, and when there are a plurality of assigned groups. Selects one of the groups (step 302). However, since there is only one allocation group, that one group is selected, and therefore it is often preferable to allocate allocation to at least two groups even with respect to a sorting category having a low distribution rate. It is checked whether or not there is an empty storage conveyor in the selected group (step 303), and if there is no empty, the process returns to step 301 to specify another group.

  When the storage conveyor 202 to discharge the free tray 4 on which the agricultural product P transported on the sorting conveyor 1 is designated (step 304), the sorting classification designation map is updated (step 305). Thereafter, the process returns to step 205 to perform discharging. Then, each time the free tray 4 carrying the agricultural products of the same sorting section is conveyed, it is discharged to the designated storage conveyor 202.

  As described above, one storage conveyor 202 that discharges the corresponding sorting section of the free tray 4 in accordance with the reading is specified.

  In the sorting classification designation control that designates the sorting classification for the storage conveyor in steps 301 to 304 described above, each branch boxing line 2 (and therefore the robot (boxing apparatus) 205 to which this is linked) is input by input to the external input device 153. Based on information from the group-by-group sorting category assignment setting unit 1522 that pre-sets the sorting category of agricultural products that can be handled, and information from the stacking status storage unit 1524 that monitors the stacking (pool) status of the storage conveyor 202, Select one of the groups to which the corresponding classification class is assigned.

  When any one of the storage conveyors 202 in the selected group is empty, the empty conveyor is designated as the agricultural product accumulation conveyor of the designated category. It is also possible to select a group based on the operating status of the conveyor (usage frequency, the number of times the free tray is sent out to the packaging stage, etc.) and the operating status (usage frequency, etc.) of the boxing device.

  For example, the former not only stores the discharge destination matrix at that time in the discharge destination storage unit 1523 described above, but also preferentially selects a group of storage conveyors 202 that is less frequently used by storing and saving the history of operating conditions. The latter includes a method of accumulating the number of boxing operations of the boxing device 205 and preferentially selecting a storage conveyor group linked to the boxing device having a lower number of operations. it can. In addition, when there are storage conveyors that can be allocated in a plurality of groups, the group that has been emptied first can be selected preferentially.

  The free tray 4 in which the sorting classification is read and the storage conveyor 202 of the discharge destination is specified is freed to the discharge device 201 of the specified storage conveyor 202 (for example, the third conveyor of group 2) via the discharge control device 16. By instructing a discharge destination instruction signal for the tray 4, every time the free tray 4 on which the agricultural products of the sorting section are loaded is discharged and accumulated on the storage conveyor 202 (step 205).

  The stopper mechanism 2046 disposed at the end of each storage conveyor 202 is in a state where the free tray 4 is stopped.

  In step 206, it is checked whether or not the number of free trays on which the agricultural products to be accumulated on the designated designated storage conveyor 202 have reached the number of one unit of packaging, and if the accumulation has reached the number of one unit, step 207 Then, the discharge instruction of the free tray 4 to the third conveyor of the group 2 is stopped, and the process proceeds to Step 208. On the other hand, when the accumulation has not reached the number of one unit, the process returns to step 202 to accumulate the free trays 4 on which the agricultural products of the same classification to be accumulated on the storage conveyor 202 are accumulated. Since the number of accumulations differs according to the number of boxed packages depending on the sorting category, the number of accumulations for each designated category is set in advance in the unit accumulation number setting unit 1525 by the external input device 153 (step 203). This is as described above.

  The free trays 4 stacked on the respective storage conveyors 202 by the discharge command are detected by the sensor 2024.

  By accumulating in the above procedure, when the storage conveyor 202 to be collected is designated, when the storage conveyor 202 is not designated, or when the storage conveyor 202 is already designated, it is not yet applied to the packaging stage. In any case where the free tray 4 is not sent out, all the agricultural products can be accumulated.

  Next, the packaging control will be described.

  In this example, 20 sorting categories for automatic boxing out of a total of 30 sorting categories of 6 classes and 5 grades, 4 storage conveyors 202 are provided for each of the two separate sorting conveyors 1 above and below for 8 groups. As described above, the upper and lower storage conveyors 202 (four each) are configured to be linked in common to the packaging device 205 of one packaging stage. Further, among the 30 sorting categories, three groups of branch boxing lines 21 for manual packaging, which are responsible for the remaining 10 sorting categories that are not automatically boxed, and a branch line 22 for extraordinary items are provided to the upper and lower sorting conveyors 1 respectively. Branch connection is independent.

  In step 206 above, the storage conveyor 202 in which the accumulation of one unit of boxing is detected by the sensor 2024 moves to step 208 after stopping the discharge of the next tray in step 207, and the storage conveyor 202 and the packaging stage are packed. Linkage with the standby position 203 is performed.

  That is, a delivery instruction signal for boxing is output from the discharge / boxing control unit 1521 to the tray delivery control device 18 of the group to which the storage conveyor 202 belongs, and the stopper mechanism 2046 which is the gate at the end of each storage conveyor 202 is retracted and sent out. The stopper mechanism 2046 of the other storage conveyors 202 in this group is kept in a state where the feeding is stopped.

  Needless to say, the delivery of the free tray 4 by this operation has a timing that does not overlap with the work of the boxing device 205 performed before that. Also, an instruction signal for moving the necessary tray pack to a predetermined position is output to the tray pack supply device 14 in synchronization with the delivery instruction (step 209).

  Next, in step 210, a boxing operation signal is commanded to the boxing device 205 associated with the corresponding storage conveyor 202 via the boxing control device 17, and the boxing operation is performed. When the packaging operation for one unit of packaging is completed, a packaging completion signal is output to the discharge / packaging control unit 1521.

  In addition, since the storage conveyor 202 that has finished sending out the free tray 4 is ready to receive the next free tray 4, the designation of the sorting category is canceled in step 211 so that a new sorting category can be designated. In addition, the list (sorting division designation map) showing the history of designation of the sorting division in step 212 is updated. This sorting classification designation map can be stored in a memory using, for example, the discharge matrix described above.

  In the sorting apparatus of this example described above, when assigning a plurality of sorting sections to the storage conveyors divided into groups, if the number of sorting sections assigned to one group is the same as the number of storage conveyor strips, Agricultural products of the same sorting division are accumulated in one group in less than the number of strips (for example, 1 unit of packaging is accumulated on another storage conveyor before being sent to the packaging stage) In the case where it is possible to perform the above, it is possible to adopt any of the cases where the number is greater than the number of the storage conveyors and is allocated to a large number of groups, and different effects can be obtained. For example, when assigning a larger number of sorting sections than the number of storage conveyors, it is convenient to average the operating rate of the boxing device.

Embodiment 2
This example shows a case where the sorting classification of the agricultural products discharged from the sorting conveyor 1 is fixedly specified for the storage conveyor 202. In order to simplify the description, the sorting and packaging apparatus of this example is assumed to be an apparatus including only the upper sorting conveyor shown in FIG. 1, and therefore the delivery conveyor 2041 is always maintained in a horizontal state and does not swing up and down. To do.

  In the apparatus of this example, each group of eight groups is constituted by four storage conveyors 202, and one boxing device can be selectively linked to these four storage conveyors 202. The total number of storage conveyors for packing is 32.

  In such an apparatus, if the classification of agricultural products to be classified and sorted for automatic boxing is now 5 for the class and 5 for the class, the number of classification is 5 × 5 = 25. In addition to this, there are also a sorting category for hand-packing work and a sorting category for unqualified products, but the description thereof will be omitted.

  In this example, for example, for 25 sorting categories, one storage reservoir 202 is fixedly designated in one sorting category, and the remaining 7 storing conveyors 202 are predicted to have a large distribution in this example. Each article is fixedly designated. By doing in this way, about the sorting division with high distribution rate, and therefore the frequency of the agricultural products P conveyed on the sorting conveyor 1 is accumulated on one storage conveyor 202, but still on the packaging stage after 1 unit packaging. Even when the next packaging unit for the sorting section is transported on the sorting conveyor 1 before being sent out, another storage conveyor can be received, so that there is little possibility of staying in the stacking unit.

  In order to solve the problem when the next free tray 4 is transported to the sorting conveyor 1 in a state where it cannot be stacked on the stacking storage conveyor regardless of the size of the distribution, for example, the barcode reader 5 from an appropriate position is used. It is also possible to provide a return conveyor for returning the free tray to the upstream position.

  According to the configuration of this example, the number of storage conveyors constituting one group is four, which is less than the number of classification categories 5 that are fixedly specified. The maximum number of tray packs to be supplied by the pack supply device 14 is 4, and the configuration of the tray pack supply device 14 prepared for each boxing device can be simplified as compared with the case of targeting the fifth class.

  Since the combination of agricultural product classifications fixedly designated on the four-line storage conveyor 202 of each group is arbitrarily determined except for satisfying the above conditions, a distribution rate (expected to be roughly proportional to the accumulation speed) By adopting a combination in which each distribution group is as uniform as possible in each group, the operation rate of the boxing device can be averaged.

  In this example, the sorting divisions of all 32 storage conveyors 202 are fixedly designated. However, in the configuration of the first embodiment, all the storage conveyors 202 are set for each delivery of a group of free trays 4. Although the specification is newly redesigned (designation and designation cancellation), the designation can be fixed for a part of the storage conveyor 202, and the rest can be designated and designated in the first embodiment.

Example 1
Using the apparatus of Example 1 described above, the classification of 6 classes (2L, L1, L2, M, S, 2S) and 5 classes (A, AP, B, BP, C) The number of divisions is 4 grades L1, L2, M, S × 5 grades in total 20) for the agricultural products (apples) showing the distribution rate shown in Table 1 below, up and down 8 groups of boxing device 205 (No1 to No8). As shown in Table 2 below, the four categories of storage conveyors (indicated in the table as “line” or “pool line”) are allotted with classification categories, and the number of full units for each classification category (class) is set. The sorting selection test was performed for a predetermined time. The number of agricultural products transferred was 1632.

  The number of agricultural products discharged to each storage conveyor 202 by this test and the operation rate of the boxing device 205 linked to each group were examined, and the results are shown in Table 3 below.

  As can be seen from this result, the operating rate of each boxing device was maintained at a high average (74 to 88%).

  Note that the assignment of the sorting category to each boxing device is not limited to Table 2. For example, assignment can be performed as shown in Table 4 below.

  In the example of Table 4, for example, the robot 1 is classified into 2 L, L1, L2, M, and S of 2L of 2L, L1, L2, M, S, and 2S for automatic boxing. , L 1, L 2, M (grades correspond to all grades) can be accepted, while robot 6 corresponds to 2 L, L 2, M, S grade 4 produce. The classification (class) assigned to each robot is not the same, but the class accepted by any robot is the fourth class. By doing so, it is possible to prepare and pack 4th-class tray packs without preparing all tray packs of the class (5th class) to be automatically boxed at each packaging stage, and to perform the work of each robot. Can be averaged.

  In this example, the agricultural product supply / equal class sorting unit secures the work by visual judgment of relatively inefficient workers, and the sorting sorting unit is a mechanical work so that it can work efficiently at high speed. In order to satisfy the requirements of each processing unit, which is intended to speed up processing and efficiently operate a large number of boxing devices in the boxed packaging unit, the free trays 4 are joined or transferred at a timely stage. Switching is possible.

  In this specification, “sorting classification” refers to a classification in which agricultural products are divided according to class elements such as size and weight, and color and scratches. For example, agricultural products are sorted and packaged only by class. However, it is generally used to sort agricultural products based on equality / class determination.

  “Assignment” means to pre-determine a sorting section in which the tray storage section in each group can be selectively designated. One or a plurality of sorting sections can be assigned to each group. For example, a case where a single sorting section is assigned to only one group, a case where the same sorting section is assigned to a plurality of groups, and the like can be cited. The number of tray storage parts constituting the group and the number of sorting sections assigned to the group may be the same or different.

The top view which showed the agricultural-product selection packaging apparatus of Embodiment 1 of this invention. The top view which showed the detail of the supply and equal class selection part of the agricultural product of the selection packaging apparatus of FIG. The front view which showed one of the branch boxing lines of the sorting part of the sorting packaging apparatus of FIG. FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG. 3. The front view which showed the state which carries out the adsorption | suction suspension of the agricultural products of a lump shape by the pick-up means which has a suction pad in a line. The side view of FIG. FIG. 6 is a plan view of FIG. 5. The system diagram which showed the supply system of the negative pressure to the adsorption cup in Embodiment 1, and the positive pressure, and the supply system of the pressure air to an air cylinder apparatus. The perspective view of the free tray lifting prevention apparatus at the time of picking up agricultural products. The front view which showed the state which picked up one tray pack from the stacked tray pack group by the pick-up means. The front view which showed the state which carried out the adsorption | suction suspension of the column-shaped fruit and vegetables by the pick-up means of FIG. The figure explaining the procedure which transfers a ball lump-like agricultural product by repeating one row at a time in 4 rows of arrangement patterns in a box container by a pick-up means. The figure which illustrated several states from which an arrangement pattern differs. The figure for demonstrating the transmission-and-reception relationship of the signal of the said Embodiment 1 which discharges the saucer conveyed with a selection conveyor to the storage conveyor by which the predetermined classification division was allocated and was specified, and packing up after a predetermined number of accumulation. The flowchart explaining the procedure for determining the classification of agricultural products by equality / class determination. The flowchart for demonstrating an example which designates the classification division with respect to the storage conveyor for equalizing the operation rate of the boxing apparatus linked to each group which consists of a plurality of storage conveyors.

Explanation of symbols

1 Sorting conveyor 2 Branch boxing line (reservoir)
4 Free tray 5 Bar code reader 6 Box (cardboard box)
7 Blower 8, 9 Switching valve 10 Relief valve 11 Solenoid valve 13 Tray lifting prevention device 16 Discharge control device 17 Boxing control device 18 Tray delivery control device 21 Branch (for hand-packing operation) Branch boxing line 22 (For non-standard products) Branch Line 12 (cardboard box) supply / discharge device 1201 Empty box conveyor 1202 Pusher 1203 Empty box lowering device 1204 Packing position 1205 Discharge conveyor 1206 Product conveyor 14 Tray pack supply device 1401-1404 Tray pack 1405 Rotation stand 1406 Support Frame 1407 Rotator 15 Arithmetic / Control Device 151 Arithmetic Device 1511 Measurement Data Operation Processing Unit 1512 Equal Class Determination Unit 1513 Address Memory 1514 Equal / Class Setting Value 1515 Record Reading Unit 152 Sorting / Packing Control Device 1521 Discharge / Boxing Control Control unit 1522 Sorting division allocation setting unit 1523 Discharge destination storage unit 1524 Accumulation state storage unit 1525 Unit accumulation number setting unit 153 External input device 50 Worker 51 Return conveyor 511 Pitching screw 52 Conveyor 521 Crosspiece 522 Taper rail 53 Tracking Detection device 54 Imaging device 55 Barcode reader 56 Junction mechanism 561 Transfer conveyor 562 Inclined rail 57 Supply conveyor 201 Discharge device 2011 Rotary table 2012 Electromagnetic adsorption unit 2013 Excitation means 2014, 2015 Excitation release means 202 (2021, 2022) Storage conveyor 2024 ( Sensor for monitoring the accumulation status 203 Box standby position 2031 Box lane 20311 Belt conveyor 20312 Guide wall 2034 Stopper mechanism 204 G Lee delivery device 2041 sends conveyor 2042 air cylinder device 2043 laterally relay conveyor 2044 longitudinally relay conveyor 2045 Axis 2046 stopper mechanism 205 boxing device (work robot)
2051 Main body 2052 Root link mechanism 2053 Tip link mechanism 2054 Suction cup holder 20541 Rail 20542 Air cylinder device 20543 Piston rod 20545 Rail 20546 Servo motor 20547 Pantograph mechanism 20548 Vent pipe 2055 Bracket 20551 Bracket bottom plate 20552 Guide 2056 Fixed cup cylinder 20561 Device 20562 Piston rod 20563 Suction cup 2057 Moving cup suspension 20571 Air cylinder device 20572 Piston rod 20573 Suction cup 2058 Ventilation pipe

Claims (2)

A sorting unit for sending a plurality of trays loaded with agricultural products forming one packaging unit to a boxing standby position when a boxing delivery instruction signal is input;
When a boxing instruction signal is input, a specified tray pack from a plurality of types of tray packs with different packing modes is loaded in a packaging box placed at the boxing position. , A packaging provided with a work robot that performs the work of adsorbing and holding a plurality of agricultural products waiting in a row at the packaging standby position and transferring them in accordance with the row configuration of the tray pack by the number of rows of the tray pack Equipment,
A control device for outputting a packaging instruction signal to the packaging device in synchronism with the output of the packaging delivery instruction signal each time a plurality of trays forming one packaging unit are delivered from the sorting unit;
Have
In response to the input of the packaging instruction signal, the packaging device selects the number of agricultural products that the work robot absorbs and holds at a time at the packaging standby position according to the packaging mode, and packages the tray packs. A boxing system for agricultural products, wherein the interval between a plurality of agricultural products held by adsorption is adjusted. The boxing device sucks and holds the specified tray pack in accordance with a tray pack designation signal for designating the tray pack of the boxing mode, and inserts it into the packaging box placed at the boxing position. The boxing system for agricultural products according to claim 1.

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